News

With the rise of eCommerce, online platforms and FinTech the use of payment services or payment service providers, has substantially increased. As most (online) platforms, eCommerce  platforms or applications and FinTech companies offer payment solutions, activities relating to payments and money transfers are increasingly carried out by regular businesses instead of banks or traditional financial institutions. An everyday example would be the online marketplace or platform which also facilitates (the collection of) the payment of the goods and/ or services that are sold through their platform to consumers. In practice, it has not always been fully clear if, and to what extent such payment solutions are VAT exempt.

Last week, the Court of Justice (“ECJ”) delivered a positive judgement on the VAT position of holding companies in the Marle case on July 5, 2018 (C-320/17).

Frank Schwarte, Lennaert Mosk and Mick Willemsen have written a technical memorandum on the recently published, non-consensus, discussion draft on financial transactions. The highly anticipated discussion draft, released by the OECD on July 3, 2018, focuses on the transfer pricing aspects of financial transactions. The memorandum provides a summary of the content of the discussion draft, an overview of the status, and the key takeaways.

On July 3, 2018 the OECD released the highly anticipated discussion draft on financial transactions, which deals with the follow-up work in relation to Actions 8-10 of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. Public comments are invited on the discussion draft and should be submitted by September 7, 2018.

On July 3, 2018 the OECD released the highly anticipated discussion draft on financial transactions, which deals with the follow-up work in relation to Actions 8-10 of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. Public comments are invited on the discussion draft and should be submitted by September 7, 2018.

In response to the judgment of the EU Court of Justice of 22 February 2018, on 6 June 2018 the Dutch Ministry of Finance published a legislative proposal to amend the Dutch fiscal unity regime. The amendments aim to bring the Dutch fiscal unity regime in line with the requirements under EU law by providing for an equal treatment of domestic and cross-border EU situations for certain tax provisions.

In response to the judgment of the EU Court of Justice of 22 February 2018, on 6 June 2018 the Dutch Ministry of Finance published a legislative proposal to amend the Dutch fiscal unity regime. The amendments aim to bring the Dutch fiscal unity regime in line with the requirements under EU law by providing for an equal treatment of domestic and cross-border EU situations for certain tax provisions.

On 25 May 2018, the Council of the EU formally adopted the proposal to strengthen tax transparency of supposedly aggressive cross-border tax planning.

On May 3, 2018, the Advocate General (‘AG’) at the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) issued his Opinion in the Ryanair case. This case concerning broken-deal costs is relevant for Private Equity & M&A practice.

On May 11, the Dutch State Secretary of Finance published a new Dutch transfer pricing Decree that replaces the Decree from November 14, 2013. The new Decree aims to address the recent changes to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, which were adjusted as a result of the BEPS-project.

Op 3 mei jl. heeft A-G Kokott conclusie gewezen in de Ryanair-zaak. Dit is een voor private equity & M&A praktijk relevante zaak over broken-deal kosten.

Recently, the Court of Appeal Arnhem-Leeuwarden rendered its judgement in a case that  is very relevant for the private equity and M&A practice. Contrary to the decision of the lower court of February 2017, the Court of Appeal ruled that the acquisition of an equity stake with an ‘envy factor’[1] does represent a taxable wage component.[2]